Mali’s ruling junta has ordered French public broadcasters RFI and its sister TV station France 24 off the air, claiming they have falsely accused the army of committing abuses – accusations the broadcasters roundly reject. The Foreign Ministry has called the decision "a grave attack on freedom of the press".
Allegations that the army, as well as jihadists, have carried out a wave of civilian killings since December 2021 were made by the head of the United Nations rights commission Michelle Bachelet and rights group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday.
They were then relayed in news reports by RFI and France 24.
RFI also broadcast its own report earlier this week, airing comments from alleged victims of abuse by the army.
The government in Bamako "categorically rejects these false accusations against the courageous FAMA (Malian Armed Forces)," spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga said in a statement dated Wednesday.
The junta is "initiating proceedings... to suspend broadcasts by RFI and France 24... until further notice," he continued.
‘Unfounded allegations’
French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the Malian government's decision on Thursday.
"I condemn with the greatest firmness this decision, which seems to me totally at odds with the values espoused by the people of Mali since its independence," he said in a news conference in Paris.
France Médias Monde – the parent company of RFI and France 24 – said it “deplored" the decision and “strongly protested against the unfounded allegations which seriously questioned the professionalism of its broadcasts”.
In a statement released Thursday, FMM said it would “explore all avenues of recourse to ensure that such a decision is not implemented”.
🔴 @France_MM déplore la procédure engagée par les autorités maliennes pour suspendre @RFI et @FRANCE24 au Mali, et proteste vivement contre des accusations infondées. Le groupe rappelle son attachement sans faille à la liberté d’informer et au professionnalisme de ses équipes. pic.twitter.com/pjTFLm0dln
— France Médias Monde (@France_MM) March 17, 2022
RFI and France 24 were no longer available by early Thursday afternoon in Mali – which has been wracked by jihadist violence for over a decade.
Threat to press freedom
The French Foreign Ministry on Thursday condemned the junta's decision, calling it a "grave attack on the freedom of the press".
The EU also called the order "unacceptable" and an attack on media freedom.
"We consider this to be unacceptable. We deplore this decision and the unfounded accusations" on which it was based, a foreign policy spokeswoman for the bloc, Nabila Massrali, told journalists in Brussels.
"By attacking the freedom of the press, the freedom to inform and to be informed, the junta is continuing and confirming that it is pushing ahead regardless," she said.
Witnesses of abuse
The Malian junta, which seized power in August 2020, said there had been "false accusations" in a report early in the week in which RFI aired comments from alleged victims of abuse by the army and mercenaries believed to be from the Russian private-security group Wagner.
RFI collected testimony from some 10 people.
Sekou Bah described being taken to an army camp near Sofara "where there were lots of white faces" as part of an anti-terorrist operation. He was "suspended upside down by his feet and interrogated by Malian soldiers".
Others said they had been detained for days, even weeks, without food, unable to contact their families.
Maiga said Malian news websites, newspapers and its national radio and TV stations were all "banned from rebroadcasting and/or publishing programmes and news articles put out by RFI and France 24".
Summary executions
Mali's junta also accused Human Rights Watch (HRW) and Michelle Bachelet, the UN human rights chief, of making false allegations against the government.
HRW this week released a report accusing Malian soldiers of killing at least 107 civilians in central and southwestern Mali since December 2021.
“The victims, most allegedly summarily executed, include traders, village chiefs, religious leaders, and children,” the rights organisation wrote.
Mali's under-equipped army has often been accused of committing abuses during the brutal conflict.
But the army-dominated interim government, installed after a 2020 military coup, regularly rejects such accusations.
President Emmanuel Macron last month announced the impending withdrawal of thousands of troops deployed in Mali under France's anti-jihadist mission in the Sahel.
